Colossal Cave
A Tucson treat

The Colossal Cave is a beautiful dormant cave (also called as dry cave – meaning that it is not growing or not having any more recent formations anymore due to lack of water) in Tucson, State of Arizona. This cave was first discovered as early as 1879, after which it was declared as a national historic place due to its obvious proof and testimony it bears of pre-historic people’s lives and culture. The first time tours were organized in the Colossal Cave is around 1923, but in that time the tour was quite challenging since it used ropes and lanterns for internal navigation. The cave is about 600 feet deep and it comes to 40 feet below the mouth of the cave.

In 1930 the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed a number of modern navigation props such as walkways, support buildings, flagstone walk-paths, handrails and have laid electrical wiring for better light facilities inside the cave. Initially the light bulbs were dull and high energy consumption capacity. Today these have been replaced with fluorescent energy-saving compact bulbs.

The Colossal Cave lives totally up to its name, as you will realize when touring it. The tour inside the cave takes about 50 minutes to an hour, time during which the guide would show you extremely interesting stalagmites, helcities, box works and flowstones. Besides you will also get to listen to the extremely interesting history of the cave, it place in the history of the ancient civilization people, as well learn about some beautiful and fascinating legends about the Colossal Cave. A guide will also provide you with very good information on the geological aspects of the cave – a special bonus for those who are interested in cave formations, wood and other fossils.

You can avail of tours to the Colossal Cave through out the year. The tours are conducted as, and when a sufficient group of people are formed – but even though it is not pre-scheduled, you never have to wait too long (max half-an-hour). Still photography and video shootings are allowed in the caves, and in case you want to take pictures, you need a fast film and flash camera, while video cameras should be fixed to dark (in the night/low light) shooting.

The history of the Colossal Cave indicates that it was formed about 15 million year ago when laden hot sulfuric acid rose from the deep earth and burned through the surface. After some time this sulfur river hardened and no more flowed into the cave. In the meantime, water seeped from above, which crystallized into forming the presently seen stalagmites, stalactites and other exquisite formations. With time, mountains formed around it and the valleys fell below drawing the water table below the cave levels. Since the Cave has many openings and no vegetation in or around it, it can no longer hold any moisture, so it is now totally dry. According to geologist experts the Colossal Cave might have been dry for about 2000-10000 years ago. The dryness classifies it as a 'dead cave.' Meaning that the rock formations, which are dependent on water, no longer form or grow.

The Cave was first 'discovered' some 1100 years ago by a native Indian tribe called the Hohokan Indians, who have actually used and lived in the cave. Many relics and artifacts pertaining to their time and culture were found in the Colossal Cave. However, for the modern world this Cave was 'discovered' in 1879 by Solomon Lick.

The temperature inside the cave is maintained by the lime mass, which does not conduct heat, and the many air ways available, which facilitate good air circulation in the cave ensuring the temperature never rises above 70° and 71° Fahrenheit throughout the year.

As in essentially all caves, the Colossal Cave is the home of bats. Nature enthusiasts will find seven different species of bats available here, the Mexican Free Tail bat, The Big Brown Bat, the Pallid Bat, the Townsend’s Big Eared bat, the Cave Myotis bat and the Mexican Long-tongued bat. These are only the most popular species, a few others also come to the Colossal Cave to roost. An exciting discovery took place at Colossal Cave in 2001 when they found that the Cave holds fossils of the Desmondus stocki which is an extinct vampire bat species that lived on the earth some 1.8 million years ago. It is the first time that scientists got any evidence that such vampire bats lived in the Arizona area.

Besides the regular tour, there are special tours for the highly advanced cave explorers, and the more adventurous and stronger people who want to see more of Colossal Cave. This tour will take a group of about 7-12 people through some deep turns and twists of the cave. These cavers need to be willing to climb up narrow ladders, and move through tight places.

< Back to Tucson Attractions